U.S. Standard General Ledger (USSGL)

Board Meeting Minutes

May 2, 2017

LOCATION: Call-In Only

TIME: 9:30 am to 10:30 am

PARTICIPANTS:

Bruce Henshel, Commerce

David Surti, DHS

Joseph Doyle, DOD

Jeffrey Carr, DOE

Diane Washington, DOI

Valerie Grant, DOJ

Miguel Reyes, DOL

Drena McDaniel, DOT

Mark Santucci, Education

Simranjeet Jassal, EPA

Robin Gilliam, FASAB

Chris Beck, Fiscal Service

Jaime Saling, Fiscal Service

Jeff Taberner, Fiscal Service

Kathy Wages, Fiscal Service

Kent Linscott, Fiscal Service
Kirstie Pottmeyer, Fiscal Service

Luke Sheppard, Fiscal Service

Marlana White, Fiscal Service

Michael D. Linder, Fiscal Service

Michele Crosco, Fiscal Service

Regina Epperly, Fiscal Service

Steve Riley, Fiscal Service

Tia Harley, Fiscal Service

George Ward, GSA

Yianting Lee, HHS

Carl Gayton, HUD

Alfred Terrance, NASA

Carl Fredericks, NRC

Cynthia Paolillo, NSF

Teresa Tancre, OMB

Susan Lee, OPM

Joseph Henry, SBA

Mark Silvestri, SSA

Robert McDonald, State

Kawan Taylor, Treasury

Alfred Buck, USAID

Kevin Close, USDA

Eric Schneider, VA
HANDOUTS:

• Voting Ballot #17-01

• CFO Memo Presentation

• Proposed USSGL Board Bylaws Update

• USSGL Board Presentation

Manager, Chris Beck (Fiscal Service) welcomed everyone to the Annual USSGL Board Meeting and conducted 

roll call.

Chris introduced Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Michael D. Linder (Fiscal Service) to the meeting attendees. 

Mike highlighted several of the innovative projects and accomplishments of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service from 

2016, as presented in the recent “Memorandum for All CFOs, DCFOs, and CIOs,” from Commissioner Sheryl R. 

Morrow (Fiscal Service). Mike thanked agencies for their feedback on the Digital Accountability and 

Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act), and encouraged them to continue to test data in the DATA Act website. 

Mike also stated that, in 2016, Governmentwide Treasury Account Symbol Adjusted Trial Balance System (GTAS) 

data was used for the first time to populate financial statement lines in the Financial Report of the United States

Government (FR). Fiscal Service is hopeful that this data will be able to populate some lines of the FR footnotes in 

the future. In addition, Fiscal Service is working to enhance the quality of the Intragovernmental Transaction (IGT) 

Buy/Sell data through G-Invoicing. It is hoped that G-Invoicing will be fully functional by Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. 

Mike announced that, in FY 2016, Fiscal Service selected a new U.S. Debit Card provider, MetaBank. 

Furthermore, Fiscal Service issued proposed regulations to adopt new payment system industry rules that will allow 

the federal government to have commercial standards on “same-day ACH” effective September 2017. Additionally,

in 2016, Fiscal Service was able to return over $14.4 billion in misdirected disbursed funds to federal payment 

agencies. 

Chris and Michele Crosco (Fiscal Service) presented USSGL Board: Ballot Items & Projects. Chris stated that 

every item on the ballot had been presented at a previous IRC Meeting and USSGL Board Members will see that the 

ballot items are agency specific accounts; the standard chart of accounts has been reviewed over the last 30 years, 

and there has been an increasing need recently to have agency specific USSGL accounts for unique situations and 

reporting requirements. Michele explained there were 10 proposed new USSGL accounts and 1 proposed deletion 

on the ballot due to International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF). Likewise, the 

Memo lines are for New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) activity, which was previously not supported. Chris

thanked Michele, James Full (Fiscal Service), and Kirstie Pottmeyer (Fiscal Service) for their work on the 

General Fund as they continue to position the General Fund to be audited in FY 2018.

Michele stated that USSGL account 591910 was being proposed for the General Fund of the U.S. Government. 

This USSGL account will be an offset to USSGL account 591900, “Revenue and Other Financing Sources –

Collections.” 

Chris explained that USSGL account 415900, “Repayment of Repayable Advances,” was created on the last ballot 

for the Department of Labor (DOL) use only. After collaborative efforts between USSGLAD Staff, Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the current ballot 

includes a proposed change to the definition to allow HHS to use this USSGL account as well.
Chris stated USSGL account 151600, “Operating Materials and Supplies in Development,” was being presented for 

the Department of Defense (DOD) use only. DOD has a unique situation in that they are paying for Operating 

Materials and Supplies over a period of time, but ownership is being transferred with these payments. Because title 

is being passed, a prepaid or advance account is not accurate and a new USSGL account is needed. USSGL Board 

Members were then given an opportunity to ask questions on any USSGL accounts presented.

Upcoming USSGL Projects include Custodial Activity Guidance, reviewing Repayable Advance Guidance, adding 

to the existing Cancelling TAS Guidance, adding to the existing Buy/Sell Transaction Guidance, continuing to 

develop General Fund guidance, developing Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) Budget and

Accrual Reconciliation (BAR) Guidance, and continuing to leverage GTAS in developing FR Note Crosswalks. 

Agency input on these projects will be very important. If your agency is interested in participating in a working 

group, contact the following people: Kent Linscott (Fiscal Service) for Custodial Activity, Michele for Cancelling 

TAS Guidance, and Chris for Buy/Sell Transaction Guidance or BAR Reconciliation Guidance. Chris suggested

that agencies should contact him about any guidance they felt was lacking or any new guidance they felt was needed 

and USSGLAD would try to accommodate needed requests. 

Chris presented USSGL Board Bylaws Update. Proposed Bylaw changes include the wording that Fiscal Service 

“maintains the USSGL TFM Supplement,” and that USSGL Board Members participate in USSGL Board and IRC 

Meetings “as necessary.” Another proposed change is to clarify that USSGL Board Members vote on changes to the 

USSGL TFM Supplement for Chart of Accounts and Accounts and Definitions (Sections I and II) only. 

Furthermore, it is clarified that USSGL Board Members attend/participate in IRC Meetings; this wording was added 

because some meetings will be call-in only. Another proposed change is that IRC Members recommend (instead of 

make) changes to USSGL Sections III, IV, V and VI. The final proposed change is that, if changes do not affect 

Sections I and II, the USSGLAD Staff will update the USSGL TFM Supplement and distribute it to the appropriate 

audience without presentation to the USSGL Board. All the changes are a result of updating the Bylaws to reflect 

the current operations of the IRC Members and how the guidance was maintained and issued. 

Chris stated that the anticipated annual publish of the USSGL TFM Supplement will be during the first week of 

June. The next IRC Meeting is tentatively scheduled for July 20, 2017. Changes to OMB Circulars A-11 and A-136 

will be presented at this meeting. Also, the SF 133/Schedule P will be in a different format that should be easier for 

users to read. 

An opportunity for questions was provided to the attendees. David Surti (DHS) asked when new Edit 994 would 

become fatal. Luke Sheppard (Fiscal Service) responded that this would occur in Period 10 of FY 17. 

Yianting Lee (HHS) asked how the new BAR Guidance differs from the current FASAB Reconciliation Guidance. 

Chris explained that some USSGL accounts have been removed. Also, 2 additional columns have been added that 

tie to the Fed/NonFed Attribute Domain Value, to provide agencies with additional guidance to comply with the 

standard requiring agencies to breakout the reconciliation by public activity and intragovernmental activity. 

Chris encouraged agencies to get involved in the upcoming working groups and concluded the meeting.